July 2010: Drool it, maul it, crawl over it - that's how our threadbabes would eat a creme egg. But why the Creme Egg?!

[CakeandRoses]

Will that do us?

/panic

memphis it is very fatty but completely worth it, as it's so delicious. If you want cheaper cuts of meat you're best off going to a reputable butcher who can get you the unusual cuts. Scrag end of lamb (neck) is cheap and good in a casserole if you don't mind bones. Pork shoulder is great as long as you slow cook it, likewise brisket is amazing- stick it in a covered oven dish on a bed of sliced carrots and onions with a cup of stock on gm1 for about 6 hours and its perfect. Basically, the cheapest meat there is will taste great if you cook it very slowly as it gives the fat and fibrous tissues time to break down. Hope that helps x

ooh thanks needle will try some of those my butcher is brilliant so will get him to sort me out!
mlic oh well thought you had a magic formula to bedtime will have to wait til he's a toddler then ask yo again
well ive just been to the nurse for my injection and just before L fell off the sofa i checked him over couldnt find why he was crying got to the docs, his nose is swollen and red she checked him and thinks he may have gone with such a bang he has broke his nose, I hope not but he is very very upset!!!

stac Ive never been to bounce and rhyme so Im not sure but they teach us sign language to use with the babies.

I have quite a few mum friends yeah lol.

memphis I hate staying indoors, esp when its so nice outside.

memphis one of my friends' girls just broke her nose, she's 13 months and has a right bump/bruise poor mite! I hope he hasn't broken it.
We buy gammon ham, that's pretty cheap and lasts us for ages.

Ok so wise ones who have travelled the tunnel of toilet training already: L asked to go on the potty today for the first time ever and did two wees in an hour. I put her in pants and about an hour later she said she needed a wee, sat for about 5 mins then got up and peed on the floor a bit later. She's obviously ready so do I go for it now? Tomorrow should I just take her night nappy off and start her in pants? Should I stay in? Help!

Oooh, blimey. I went a little crazy in mothercare today buying summer clothes for gwen. Who was it talking the other day about how they dress their babies? I've got a bit of a weird thing about babies in mini children's clothes like jeans and t shirts, so G usually wears vests with rompers or dresses with matching pants for church. It makes for sooo much ironing though! Mothercare is so expensive, but they've got such beautiful little girls things in there at the moment.

Can I pick your brains ladies? My "bus pram" (silver cross linear freeway, got secondhand) has packed up, so I need a new one. Ideally it has to be forward facing, and able to do pushchair and carrycot/ fully reclining. I was wondering what you all use? I looked at one called an Oyster, and quite liked that but was hoping for recommendations xxx

mlic I wondered about that, but we do have a toddler seat for the big Silver Cross. Do you have s double one? I did look at I candy for that reason. Tbh. I'm already flapping about the fact that i'm not pregnant again, I guess because I got pregnant so quickly and so unintentionally last time, I assumed it would be easy this time.

I do like the Peach Blossom. I just shudder at the thought of a Phill and Teds!

Hmmm. I don't like that you can't have it as a single, forward facing pushchair. I'd have to buy a new carseat too if I wanted to have a newborn forward facing.
It's so stupid, if I'm being realistic, I know that I'd be stupid to spend lots on a new single buggy if I'm ttc. However, I feel as though I'm jumping the gun looking at double ones- what if I can't have another baby for some reason? I feel like I'd be jinxing it or something if I bought a double buggy before I get pregnant again, but I really do need something, because I can't go back to using the Tank until the building work is done, and I need something for the bus. Am I just getting worked up over nothing? I suddenly feel slightly hysterical.

Chulita how old is L again? It sounds like she is starting to be ready for tting. I'll be back in a min

OK tting.

I just had A around the house with no knickers or trousers on for the first day or two. If they are wearing pants they can forget it's not a nappy. Is it warm enough to do that there? UK houses are pretty warm generally so I reckon it would be OK (we ahve no central heating here, but i did it in early autumn when it was still warm enough).

So I did no knickers/trousers, just running orund the house. Clothes on when we went out to the park. We went immediately after she had a wee so I reckoned I had a good hour before she needed to go again. Very local park that takes us 5 mins to walk to and has lots of handy trees for urgent wees .

I think we went out every day but I tended to go to outdoor places or places I knew had toilets we could quickly get to.

When she did do a wee in her pants it was generally contained by the clothes - it's not like you end up with pools all over the floor (hopefully).

Some people do the "making them sit on the potty every hour/half hour" thing, I didn't, just had the potty in a prominent place so she could see it and jsut encouraged her to sit on it when I thought she needed to.

Oh I don't know how you feel about bribery with sweets but A completely got tting once she realised there was something in it for her . I think I used chocolate raisins so it was just something small, still not great for the teeth but we brushed teeth lots and phased them out once she had got the hang of it.

I'll post if I think of anything else, others might have more suggestions as to what they did too.

L is 2 and a half tomorrow.

needle we have a beast of a travel system (currently on loan to bruv), a Baby Jogger City Mini (which folds up one handed and is really light so perfect for the bus/back of the car) and a Out 'n About Nipper double. I've never been one for prams tbh since they're not in them for long but the city mini/nipper combo does us very well. I use the nipper every day and the single when we drive somewhere and I can't face carrying S or when L decides she wants to run the whole way.

Ok, I was putting pants on her but maybe I'll try not. She doesn't feel the cold so she'll be fine pottering around with nothing on. She does however get very trying if we don't go somewhere and run off steam so I'm wondering how to get around that.
I'm fine with bribery too and I'd forgotten chocolate raisins exist but L loves them so thanks for reminding me!

ooh those legwarmers are lovely!! next on my got to have it list!
he he needle!! i really think a goodhaircut can do wonders for someone. it's the one thing you wear every day so why not have it looking nice and look after it!
E is brill thanks stac! she loved her hols and was so good i was so proud of her! mum said my grandad hasn't stopped singing her praises since we got back he said he's never come across a child as good as her! lovely to hear and he said i'm a great mother too! which made me teary cos it's not something that people ever say it's always about the dad people say isn't he great.
E says Ellie, good girl, david, day day, hiya, mama, dada, nana and was kind of saying grandad when we were away! the chat out of her the last couple of weeks is hilarious she just babbles non stop!
trudy i have serious blues :( doesn't help that we're having such crap weather! glad it made you see some good.

needle would it be better to get another secondhand cheaper single for now? my friend has twins, but the are non identical, the boy is huuuuge and the little girl is tiny in a year difference in clothes so like toddler and baby, she bought the icandy and she fought with them over the design as if you reclined the front pod then the child behind had nowhere to move to, I have the icandy and love it, she sold hers after 6 months and just got a normal double. My uncle has the Oyster and his girl is 5 months now (but as big as L) and he gets on well with it, his wife will complain about the smallest thing so it must be good, my brother works for a baby compant and went to the big baby shows and one of the best pushchairs is a Norton thats what he has gone for, is there a local massive baby shop near you like we have Kiddicare? that would be best then you can try loads?
chulita did your friend take her baby hospital ,I feel terrible he wouldnt eat and he took a long time to drink his bottle he had a nap and looked all dazed and when i touched the sides near his eyes he was in agony, but they cant do anything for it surely? ive given him calpol and he is now asleep.

chulita I struggle with bacon/gammon as im sure my tongue shrivels even if i salt water for spuds! and for toilet training my friend has just got her ds those pants that have the plastic inner ive mentioned before so they feel when they are wet, he is 18 months and say doing wee wee and pooped see see so she checks his nappy and he has been, I hope L isnt that eager I dont want to deal with that before 2!!!

Yes she did memphis, she's a paed nurse and just thought it was better to check her out. I've not seen her but the photos on fb look truly awful. I'd take him to see someone but then I'm paranoid about head stuff. I broke my nose when I was about 14, looked like Obelix for a fortnight, 2 black eyes and it was pain like nothing else. Poor little L, hope he's a lot lot better in the morning!
I've been debating those pants (who's going to wear all the pink nappies?)

Completely forgot to say memphis poor L :( don't think there's anything they can do for a broken nose but hopefully he doesn't keep smacking it before it heals!!
Needle we just got a cosatto yo before holidays for a stroller and find it good but that's not what you're looking for. Before that we just had a graco travel system that i wouldn't get again
wss how is the boobs today?

chul if you recall we started out with the 1 day method then F was ill the next day so we put it on hold and then carried on v much in the manner of wss

personally, i'd def try to make time to go out otherwise it can drive you insane

we got some of those bright bots training pants for going out in - they hold a bit but not a whole flood

more later after apprentice....

I might get some training pants then and do that, tomorrow she'll either stay in a nappy or sit on a towel or something. Can't have her weeing all over 'wiggles and giggles' can we?

Would you believe on the subject of pushchairs there's an add in our local shop selling a full gracco travel system for £29 with change bag. Total bargain.

That's great about E being good, it is lovely to hear your doing a good job. Don't blame you being about being home.

Aww memphis poor L sounds sore, hope he's ok.

Chulita its been so long since I tt but I did the same stuff as wss but also with the plastic knickers

Dd is asleep I have taken painkillers as my cramps kicked in but I am shattered today. Trudy the bugs away I think.

Dh bounce and rhyme is basically doing actions to songs so it must be different, sounds good. Your right to get out and about wish we had more here.

Memphis that Norton looks lovely, and really reasonable too, thank you! I must admit, my mum had a silver cross and cheapy pushchair, and when my little brother was born I think she just had me walking in the baby reins when she took the pushchair out, and popped me in the toddler seat when she took the Silver Cross. I was sort of hoping that I'd be able to do the same with Gwen, but there's two years and three months between Frank and I, and we're looking for more like a year and nine months now between Gwynnie and the hypothetical next sprog. I suppose there's also the danger that I end up with twins next time round and am suddenly back to square one. The Oyster Vision looks really nice. H and I so old fashioned about these things- I'm my own worst enemy.

TSC That's always been my objection to the Phil and Teds too, plus they're so close to the road that they must inhale far more exhaust fumes than is good for them. Plus, it can't be nice to hair your earliest memories of walks with mummy to be staring at the bottom of your older sibling!

Cake, I'd love to hear from you, actually, as F and A are quite close in age. do you mind me asking what you use?

Funny you saying that about L's toilet training Memphis. I'm hoping to have G trained before the next one arrives, as I can't imagine how much of a faff it would be to have two in nappies at the same time. My friend Laura was toilet trained by 7 months, because she just howled the minute she went to the toilet.